This week, the well known scientist, Dr. Goldilocks, did a highly important study on the way bears live, more specifically on what chairs bears sat in the most. Dr. Goldilocks reports that she noticed a house in the woods that belonged to the bears, and when no one answered the door when she knocked, she went inside to do a little research. The first observation, or something one can sense, Dr. Goldilocks made was that there were three chairs in the room. Dr. Goldilocks also noticed that one chair was made of wood, one chair was made of metal, and the third chair had a cushioned seat. She then inferenced, or something one decides or thinks about after observing it, that the bears sat in the third chair the one with a cushioned seat on it the most because it seemed the most comfortable. Dr. Goldilocks decided to test this experiment for herself and so she went about with her clipboard in hand, recording down the information. She decided that the independent variable, or what you change on purpose in an experiment, in the BEAR CHAIR EXPERIMENT was the material the chairs were made out of. Looking back at her previous notes, Dr. Goldilocks confirmed that the levels of IV, or a description of the set ups, in this experiment were wooden chair, metal chair, and the chair with a cusion. To continue on with the BEAR CHAIR EXPERIMENT, Dr. Goldilocks decided to find her dependent variable, or what one measures. This she found to be the amount of sit time in the chair. With most of her information collected, Dr. Goldilocks was almost ready to start testing the BEAR CHAIR EXPERIMENT, but first she still had to find what she was going to measure the experiment in. She settled on minutes as her unit of measure and then moved on to the constants of the experiment. Now, here, Dr. Goldilocks thought long and hard, because constants make sure the experiment is kept fair. After some serious thought, Dr. Goldilocks decided that the constants had to be the size of the chair, and the type of floor the chair is on. Finally, Dr. Goldilocks was ready to write her purpose, or her reason for her reason for the BEAR CHAIR EXPERIMENT, which is as follows and in the correct and only format: " The purpose of this experiment is to determine the effect of the material a chair is made out of on the amount of sitting time in it. Just as Dr. Goldilocks was about to start testing the BEAR CHAIR EXPERIMENT the three bears came home from their picnic. As they walked in the door, they saw that someone had been sitting in their chairs. They did not see Dr. Goldilocks, who was bending down to pick up some of her papers, but when they did, they grew very angry at her for trespassing. However, Dr. Goldilocks escaped a very heated argument by calmly telling the bears who she was and why she was in their home. The bears understood, and when Dr. Goldilocks asked them if they would participate in the BEAR CHAIR EXPERIMENT, they told her they would be delighted and they arranged a date next month, because bears are very busy. So, stay tuned, and make sure you pick up next month"s article of Science of the Forest as Dr. Goldilocks reveals the data and her conclusion about the BEAR CHAIR EXPERIMENT. Until then, here is the Science Q of the Week: What is a bear's average life span? The answer will be revealed in next week's article alongside Dr. Cinderella's article on whether or not mice are able to sew. Until then, so long and keep thinking scientifically.